Parliament (Participation of Members of the House of Commons) Bill [HL]

My Lords, I wonder whether my noble friend will allow me to suggest to the noble Lords, Lord Baker and Lord Strathclyde, that whatever is said about Scotland is not true so far as Wales is concerned. It is just not true that English Members of Parliament are incapable of influencing what the Welsh Assembly does. Noble Lords will know that the Welsh Assembly does not have the power of primary legislative competence. It cannot pass Acts—I am being waved at by a Whip; I am not quite sure why. My point is that the only power that the Welsh Assembly has is in subsidiary legislation, and English Members of Parliament who sit at Westminster pass the main Act under which the subsidiary legislation is made. That is part of their power, so it is just not true that English MPs cannot affect what goes on in Wales. They can.